You've Got to be Kidding Me

William Fitzpatrick, Onondaga County's District Attorney for Life, is apparently getting an eyeful in his role as one of the chairs of New York's Moreland Commission.

In a recent radio interview recapped in the local newspaper, he talked about what he's seeing and how it's making him a believer in public financing of campaigns.

I'm a fiscal conservative. If the money's not there, I'm inclined not to spend it. But in reality, based on what I've learned over the last couple of months, I'm now a proponent of public financing... The savings would ultimately be astronomical in the long run.

Yes, it's true -- some politicians (but not District Attorneys) can be swayed by the ridiculous amount of money available to them from donors, PACs, corporations, unions etc., and it can get expensive prosecuting them and getting the out of office when they break the law. 

The higher cost, of course, is the loss of faith in the system, which leads to dissatisfaction with the process, which leads to low voter turnout, which increases the powers of incumbency, which makes the politicians more attractive to big money donors, and it just goes round and round.  And there's also the bad legislation we get as a result of making the donors happy.

Like Fitzpatrick, I think we have ethical issues in politics and politicians from both on both sides of the aisle. After all, no one has a monopoly on bad acts. But I disagree that public financing is the answer.  My concern, plain and simple, is that I don't trust the politicians to come up with any viable way to enact reasonable public financing laws.  We're talking about restricting their bread and butter, after all. Further, Albany politicians have a proven track record of protecting their interests first, and yours and mine second.  Take redistricting, for example. Or their slow, strolling-through-molasses realization that they're better off without ethically-challenged members in their midst.

Fitzpatrick mentioned that 'crininality' had been found, and that the party 'housekeeping accounts' are being misused, and that LLCs (which allow virtually unlimited contributions) are bad, among other things.  The housekeeping accounts are supposed to be used for non-campaign related things, like voter registration for instance. Common Cause/NY, a non-profit advocacy group, issued a scathing report earlier this year on the housekeeping accounts. It outlines a pretty sorry state of affairs.

The LLCs?  Well, those are set up to help people get around campaign contribution limits.  The candidates, for their part, take the money and then try and convince themselves (and us) that it doesn't mean anything and that you and I are just as important as the big-money LLC donors.  Are you buying that?

My solution is not public funding of elections, typically through some sort of matching fund programs.  My solution limits the money differently:  by allowing contributions only from living, breathing residents of the district in which the candidate is running or was elected.  This solves more issues and doesn't require taxpayer dollars. It also helps restore trust in the process, and eventually I might be at least as important to my elected representative as, say, some powerful downstate Democrat in the Assembly, or some powerful upstate Republican in the senate, or our Sonova Governor, or a union, or some out-of-state billionaire with an agenda.

Back to Fitzpatrick.  He also honed in on how some pols report their campaign account reimbursements. From the article:

There's no specificity at all. We're talking about thousands and in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars on unspecified reimbursements.

We should be able to see how campaign funds are being spent, and I would of course prefer that elected officials or candidates use these contributions on campaign expenses -- you know, advertising, polling, campaign offices and phone banks and whatnot.  To me, it's as important how they spend the money as it is where the money comes from.

I want to see everyone report their expenses. Like Fitz did. In case you missed it, here are some of the ways he has spent his campaign contributions over the course of the past several years:

• $63,000+ on restaurants and bars
• $57,000+ on golf-related activities
• $53,000+ on donations to other people's campaigns or political parties
• $61,000+ reimbursing himself

I look at those numbers, and (taking a page out of Fitzpatrick's own quote book) I can only ask, "you've got to be kidding me, you're surprised by the behavior you're seeing?

Tuesday's Number: $162,573

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were nine people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $125,484.

This week, there were two satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider listed, totaling $37,089.

And, this week, there were no health care related bankruptcies.  

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

New York: We're Betting On You

Last Tuesday, New Yorkers overwhelmingly approved perhaps the most ridiculously worded, most biased proposal ever to appear on our ballot:

The proposed amendment to section 9 of article 1 of the Constitution would allow the Legislature to authorize up to seven casinos in New York State for the legislated purposes of promoting job growth, increasing aid to schools, and permitting local governments to lower property taxes through revenues generated.

The promise from our leaders in Albany, the gaming industry, trade unions, business organizations, and local government officials, if the proposal passed? $430 million dollars to counties annually, from the $1 billion in annual revenue that we'll get from those casinos, and 10,000 jobs - well, it was too tasty for folks to pass up.

The four new casinos would be in the Catskills, the Southern Tier, and in the Albany area. After seven years, three casinos could be built in New York City. None would be in my neck of the woods, due to the exclusive rights that the Oneida Nation has to protect their investment in Turning Stone.  Similarly, Western New York will not get a casino either, because the Seneca Nation has the rights to our cash out there, through their properties in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Salamanca. Those exclusivity deals were negotiated earlier this year by our Sonova Governor, Andrew Cuomo.

The Oneidas will pay the state some $50M each year (25% will go to local jurisdictions) and will make cigarettes about as costly at reservation-owned stores as they are at non-Native stores, and will make a one-time payment of $11M to Madison County as settlement of tax claims.  The deal with the Senecas would give the state $135M per year, and included some immediate payments that had been held up in disputes over the compact.  A third deal, with the St. Regis Mohawks, keeps new casinos out of the North Country.

A breakdown of the vote, as illustrated in this article by Michelle Breidenbach in the Post Standard, shows where the opposition to the measure came from:

• Ten counties in Western New York - Seneca gambling territory - voted no by between 50 -59%. Niagara and Monroe county results were 'undetermined' at the time the article was published; however according to the unofficial results, both are leaning no but by very small margins - less than 500 votes in Monroe, and only 250 votes in Niagara. 
• Here in Central New York, four counties - Madison, Onondaga, Otsego and Tompkins - voted the proposal down; Oneida county was still up in the air but is leaning towards approval, albeit by only 401 votes. 
• In the capital area, Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga and Warren counties all said no. Rensselear was leaning yes, by just over 700 votes, while Washington was saying no, by only 65 votes.
• Further north, Hamilton county (118 votes) and Lewis county (369) were also leaning no.

The yes votes were generally strongest where casinos will eventually be built. Along the NY-Pennsylvania border, Chemung, Broome and Tioga counties voted 60% or more in favor; in the Catskills, the same was true in Sullivan, Duchess, Orange, and Putnam counties; other counties in both areas were supportive, but by a lesser percentage. Clinton County, way up north, also voted strongly yes, as did NYC and Long Island.

So the promise has been offered, and accepted by the people. Now we just need to know the details.  This report notes that some big players are interested in building our new palaces of job growth, school aid, and lower property taxes, and that construction should start  in 2014.  The open question is, who goes first?

The legislature apparently didn't include a local veto, but did require that anyone looking to grab a license needs to gain public support - so that seems easier for the Southern Tier or the Catskills to be first up, given the opposition in the Albany area.  If I were a betting woman, I'd bet on the Catskills.

But if construction is only starting next year, will it be 2015 before we're going to start getting our piece of the pie?  And what are local jurisdictions supposed to do in the meantime, wait for some other economic development magic wand to bring them good luck?

Oh wait -- maybe they can take some taxpayer dollars to a racino slot machine or one of the Native American casinos, and try their luck.

Goodbye, trans fats

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday that it is looking to have 'partially hydrogenated oils' (PHOs) classified as food additives, meaning they couldn't be used in food without authorization from the FDA.  PHOs, according to the FDA's press release, are the primary dietary source of trans fats in food.  Having the PHOs classified as a food additive would mean those wishing to use them would need to meet a pretty heavy burden of proof of benefit to get approval, so if approved this new policy could pretty much eliminate trans fats.

Trans fats, in case you didn't know, are the things that make certain foods taste good. What kinds of food? Well, let's see: crackers, cookies, frozen pies, other baked goods, microwave popcorn and other snacks, frozen pizza, creamers, refrigerated dough products, ready-to-use frosting, vegetable shortening, margarine... there's some good, convenient, tasty stuff there in the list which could contain trans fat. I admit to enjoying many of the items on the list. Sadly, as much as they make things yummy, the pesky trans fats actually can raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. 

Trans fat content has been included on food labels for several years, and consumption has decreased over time, by almost 80% in the past decade, because of increased education, the labeling, local restrictions (such as those in New York City), and actions by the food industry to reduce trans fats in foods or the oils used to cook them.  For example, many of the more prominent restaurant chains have already eliminated trans fats; for some smaller restaurants and stores, it might be harder and more costly to make the transition.

Ultimately, the hope is that further restrictions on PHOs and trans fats will help save lives. As FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg notes,

The FDA's action today is an important step toward protecting more Americans from the potential dangers of trans fat.  Further reduction in the amount of trans fact in the American diet could prevent an additional 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease each year - a critical step in the protection of Americans' health.

The projected benefits of this change may not seem huge in the overall scheme of things, but every little bit helps. There should also be some reduction in health care costs, which can have implications beyond those directly affected.

As with most government regulations, there's a comment period, during which interested parties can chime in.  Already, some in the industry are starting the conversation.  For example, the Giant Eagle grocery store chain, with stores in the Pittsburgh and Cleveland areas, issued a statement noting that they  

...work diligently to ensure that our stores follow all relevant Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules and regulations.  We are aware of today's FDA announcement regarding their preliminary determination that partially hydrogenated oils are not "generally recognized as safe" or "GRAS" for use in food, and are awaiting further detail from the FDA before reviewing the potential impact on our locations during the coming years. (emphasis added)

The FDA and the food industry need to be reasonable about implementation, should this proposal go forward.  For example, it could be a 'from this day forward' rule, so that nothing new can have trans fats, but food already on the shelves could be allowed to be sold for a certain period of time. Another alternative would  be some kind of buy-back period, where the FDA could purchase inventory to get it off the shelves, and keep manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers from losing everything on these currently legal products.  On the industry side, aggressive efforts could be made to speed up the transition.

I hope the comment period gives people on both sides a chance to come up with a viable plan. Kudos to those who have fought for this for so long; and kudos as well as to the food industry for the progress they've already made, willing or unwillingly, to get these fats out of their products.  

Tuesday's Number: $189,394

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.  

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.  

This week, there were 12 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $189,394.   

This week, there were no satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider listed.  

And, this week, there were no healthcare related bankruptcies.    

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

The Election Eve Post, 2013

It's that time again - the night before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That means it's Election Eve, and time for me to once again encourage you to vote.

Now, I know that we don't have a Presidential race this year, or a governor's race in New York, or a senatorial race, or even a House race this time around. (Note that there is a local boy, Syracuse's own Terry McAuliffe, leading the race for governor of Virginia, but we can't vote for him. We really can't.)

The race for Mayor here in Syracuse is pretty much a forgone conclusion; the R's didn't even put up a viable candidate; after fooling around earlier this year with placeholders, they finally gave up. We do have some choices for County Legislature and Common Council, as well as a few other local seats.

And we have six propositions on the back of the ballot. That's right - propositions are on the back, vs. being on top with our old voting machines.  We've got economic development um, I mean, casino gambling. We've got special benefits for veterans, sewage plant funding, a couple of issues to solve in the Adirondacks, and eliminating the age restriction on some (but not all) NY judges. 

There's much to think about, even though the excitement of a big race is missing - so don't let that turn you off from making your voice heard.

Don't vote because I say it's important, vote because it IS important. As I do every year, I offer the following motivation, in case you need it: 

After some thought, “I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.” (1) Actually “The idea of an election is much more interesting to me than the election itself…the act of voting is in itself the defining moment.” (2) And why is it that “When the political columnists say ‘every thinking man’ they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘every intelligent voter’ they mean everyone who is going to vote for them”? (3) 

We know it’s true that “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who didn’t vote” (4), and that “A citizen of American will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election.” (5) Do we still not realize, after all these years, that “lower voter participation is a silent threat to our democracy… it under-represents young people, the poor, the disabled, those with little education, minorities and you and me”? (6) 

After all, “the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men” (7) and “to make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not just observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” (8) And complain we do, after every election, when the wrong guy wins. If only people who actually voted complained, it’d likely be a lot less noisy. 

Some folks may not vote because they don’t know how to pick the right person. There are a couple different schools of thought on that. On the one hand, some might think that “politics is the art of the possible” (9) while others may subscribe to the thinking that “politics is not the art of the possible, it consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. And it is true that, the great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter the chance to do something stupid.” (10) Said another way, a “Vote (is) the instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” (11) But that’s OK – “personally, I believe that our American system works as long as you participate in it. You must vote and make your voice heard; otherwise you will be left out.” (12) 

It’s generally true that if you “ask a man which way he’s going to vote and he’ll probably tell you. Ask him, however, why – and vagueness is all.” (13) But voting’s really easy; and “all voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.” (14) And just about everyone likes to play a game every now and then, right? 

The bottom line is, “voting is simply a way of determining which side is the stronger without putting it to the test of fighting;” (15) “voting is a civic sacrament;” (16) and “the future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.” (17) If all of that seems like too much pressure, you have an out: “Vote for the man who promises least. He’ll be the least disappointing.” (18) 

Please, vote. It really does matter, this year and every year. If you need information on where to vote, or other assistance, visit Vote411.org or contact your local Board of Elections.

  (Thanks to these folks for their words of wisdom: 1 - Charles DeGaulle; 2 – Jeff Melvoin; 3 – Franklin P Adams; 4 and 13 – Andrew Lack; 5 - Bill Vaughan; 6 - Nancy Neuman; 7 - Lyndon B Johnson; 8 - Louis L’Amour; 9 – Otto Von Bismarck; 10 – Art Spander; 11 – Ambrose Bierce; 12 - Mari-Luci Jaramillo; 14 – Henry David Thoreau; 15 – H.L. Mencken; 16—Theodore Hesburgh; 17 – Dwight D. Eisenhower; 18 – Bernard Baruch)

The Update Desk: Parking Scofflaws

Seven months ago, I did an update on the decision by the City of Syracuse to hire a private contractor to track and 'boot' the cars of parking scofflaws.

The Syracuse Common Council had just approved a contract with PayLock, a New Jersey company that had been providing the boots all along, to try and track down cars owned by the some 20,000 or so scofflaws.  Any thought of offering an amnesty program, something which had been suggested by Councilor Jake Barrett, had been turned down.

From June 20th through September 30th, PayLock booted over 1000 cars which led to payment of over $360,000 in fines, according to a recent article. That's about triple the booting and about double the fines compared to last year, when the work was handled by the Syracuse Police Department.  And as I noted in the prior posts, the SPD has more important things to do than boot cars (on overtime, no less). Another local media report says PayLock is averaging about a boot an hour, using their system of scanners to identify bootable vehicles, and a computer to confirm that the outstanding tickets have not been paid.

I hope that folks within the city government and, frankly, local businesses, continue to look for similar opportunities to save taxpayers money and increase revenues for our financially-challenged city.

Tuesday's Number: $439,352

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings. 

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

This week, there were 13 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $348,310.  

This week, there were four satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider, totaling $66,656.  

This week, there was one health care related bankruptcy, totaling $24,836.   

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Something Worth Waiting For?

If I didn't know any better I would think that the Healthcare.gov website is the single most important issue facing our country today.

Not our struggling economy or not our inability to get any meaningful, sustainable job growth; not all of the controversy swarming around our educational system, nor our immigration problem, or energy policy, or global warming, or how we protect ourselves from the next SuperStorm Sandy, or whether keeping parks open during a government shutdown constitutes an 'essential service.'

Nope, the most important thing we have to worry about right now is a website. For a program that somewhere between 0 and 100% of Americans "don't like" or "don't want" or "can't afford" or "think goes too far" or "think doesn't go far enough" or believe is "communist" or "socialist" or "has death panels" or fill-in-the-blank from any survey you can find taken over the past three years, since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed.

This pressing issue revolves around how long it takes people to actually do something after getting on the government's new health insurance 'exchange' website. It's clunky, and complicated, and makes people miserable because everything takes too long. Reporters have been wringing their hands over the risk that all of those young healthy people that we need signed up for insurance to level the premium playing field for everyone else will stop trying because they won't stand for something that doesn't give them immediate gratification. And of course politicians from both sides are clamoring for a delay in implementation of the individual mandate, because the website is bad (as if it will never ever ever function as envisioned).

Folks have reported waiting for a very long time - apparently hours in some cases -- to try and apply for health insurance.  I got in last night and was advised, in just a few seconds, that I needed to visit the NY State of Health, the exchange for New York residents. That deflection prevented me from having to go through the account setup, income review, etc. that is contributing to the clunkiness and lack of responsiveness people have experienced since the exchange opened on October first.

And so, given the number of people complaining about having to wait for the federal or state exchange, I thought it would be interesting to point out a few things that we fickle Americans ARE willing to wait for, to try and get some perspective.  

One thing that we do stand in line for, in some places for hours, that is worth it?  Voting. There are thoughts that, as new voter ID laws go into effect in several states, these lines will get longer. But a line to vote is a line I would absolutely stand in.

We're willing to hang out for lots of other things, too.

For example, here are thousands of people waiting to sing for American Idol judges.  According to the report with this photo,

People from all over have flocked to Gillette Stadium ...with hopes of getting their talent noticed... Thousands were in Foxboro Thursday to register and have returned as auditions get underway.

And then there's this great little video, showing people camped outside a Best Buy store waiting for Black Friday sales last year.  Listen to the incredulous child wonder what on earth is going on:

Whoa! More people? Mama, more people? Oh my God! Why are there more people?

And perhaps you were standing in a line somewhere back in May, waiting to by a $600M Powerball ticket? This picture was posted on Twitter by Ken Smith, a reporter for a CBS affiliate in Las Vegas.

Lotteries are illegal in Nevada, so many folks buy tickets in California.  Per an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal, one lottery seller in Nipton noted that

Last night, I heard some people had to wait nine hours in line.

And then there's concert tickets. 

People will stand in line for quite a while waiting for concert tickets - as I did once many years ago to see The Rolling Stones.  Earlier this year, when tickets went on sale for the New York State Fair, there was a minor uproar when folks who got there early were not able to get the seats they wanted. The woman who was first in line to get tickets for a Justin Aldean/Luke Bryan concert was there for 26 hours and left disappointed with the seats she got, which were in the 9th and 10th rows.

I just love this band and I'm so disappointed to stand in line that long. Twenty-six hours, I must be insane to do it.

Um, perhaps. But not so crazy as this: have you ever heard of a cronut? It's a cross between a croissant and a donut, with some kind of cream filling and flavoring.

Apparently they're all the rage at a bakery in Soho, according to an article published in July by Business Insider.

That article included a link to another, which had this picture by AndyBCampbell, showing the horde of people waiting in line for their limit of two cronuts. For hours. Yes, for hours.

I'm thinking I don't like most food enough to stand in line for very long waiting to get some.  We did stand in line a couple weeks ago for some piping hot apple fritters, but it was for all of about ten minutes. Had it been a much longer wait, and had we not been first in line, I'm pretty sure we would have just gotten in the car and gone home.

But standing in line or waiting to get stuff is not a new phenomenon. People have been waiting in line at concession stands, amusement park rides, and public bathrooms for decades.  And we'll wait for sneakers. And Harry Potter books and movies. And, of course, iPhones. How can we forget all those people who hired other folks to wait to purchase their new phones? 

In the end, after reading about so many Americans waiting for so many frivolous things, I can't help thinking that signing up for health insurance, especially for people who have gone so long without it, would be worth the wait.

Dissecting Direct Mail

Instead of aggravating over political stuff today, I thought it would be fun to dissect some mail I received earlier this week.

Now, I get probably hundreds of pounds of direct mail and junk mail a year: solicitations from charities I've never heard of; offers for credit cards, life insurance, and other financial opportunities; catalogs for clothes, jewelry, shoes, garden supplies, cooking gadgets, food in the mail, things I've seen on TV, and on and on and on. And sweepstakes offers -- like many of you,  I may already be a winner. Have you checked to see if you've won?

Wednesday, I got two great pieces of junk mail, both related to massive used car sales that are happening in our area. Before I get into the mailers, in the interest of full disclosure: I do not drive; I never have. I will someday, I think. It's just never been a priority for me.  So when I get junk mail related to cars, I shift into shake-my-head mode right away. 

So - here's the setup. Two full color, oversized 'envelope' style flyers arrived, pictures of cars all over them, large print, and lots of codes and PINs and official-looking language and delivery instructions.

Flyer #1: This could be your "key" to winning $25,000 CASH or a  $24,985 2010 Ford F150 STX!  Yep, that's right:  I could win an old car with the key that was attached to the flyer. I could also win any of a number of other prizes - there are a total of 70,000 available -  if I present my photo ID and my official bar code at "Syracuse Chiefs Stadium" on October 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 or 29. (Note that there's no such thing as Syracuse Chiefs Stadium, it's NBT Bank Stadium, but that's really a small issue.)

 Flyer #2: "One metallic key mailed for a $19,763 2013 Dodge Journey". Yep, I could win a newer old car with the key that was attached to this flyer, or a any of the total of 60,000 prizes if I present my winning invitation, photo ID and confirmation code at the Fingerlakes Mall outside Auburn on nine days only. Four of the days had already passed by the time I got the flyer, so that's kind of a bummer.

Now, here's the first problem with these mailings. Take a look -- there's no difference between the keys I got, other than one has more tape goop on it than the other. They are exactly the same. That being the case, I'm pretty sure I don't have the winning key for either deal, because if I did it means I have the winning key for both of them, and well, we know that's just not going to happen, right?

I could be the winner for one, I guess, and my alter ego 'Current Resident' could win the other one, since the mail was addressed to both of us. But I'm struggling a little trying to figure out what Current Resident's photo ID would look like, and how her identify could be verified as required in the official rules. 

Both deals are coordinated by American Hole n One, a direct mail and promotions firm out of Georgia. Prizes in addition to the cars, include cash, TVs, Kindles, and Walmart gift cards, and  'golden dollars'.  Flyer #2 offers a prize to everyone who receives the mailing, with well over 99%  (59,981 out of 60,000) of them being $5 Walmart gift cards. 

Flyer #1, on the other hand, has a problem. Again, well over 99% (69,897 out of 70,000) of the prizes are minuscule - in this case, $2 'golden dollars' but the interesting thing is, the odds of winning the car and the other major prize, $3500 cash, are 1:500,000.  Something about this seems fishy doesn't it? I mean, who are those other 430,000 people who have a chance to win my three-year-old truck?

Alas, as I wrote that last sentence, I saw a political tie-in after all. I guess it was simply not meant to be a politics-free day after all.

See, it occurred to me that the 70,000 who got the mailing are kind of like the people who actually live in a specific legislative district; they have a direct connection to the issues in the district, and are the ones to whom the candidate that gets elected needs to be accountable.

The other 430,000?  They're equivalent to all those outside the district  - PACs and unions and Brothers Koch and foundations and billionaires Soros and Bloomberg -- that pour tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars into my district during each election cycle, trying so very hard to influence not only the election outcome, but the politician as well.

And so I wonder: If I don't even have a fair chance to win a stupid used car, how am I supposed to have a fair chance to elect the person I want to represent me?

Campaign finance reform, that's how.

Tuesday's Number: $375,675

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings. 

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance. 

This week, there were 23 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $356,281.  

This week, there were three satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider, totaling $19,394.  

This week, there were no healthcare related bankruptcies.   

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

 

Finding Freedom on Vacation

One of the things I love about vacations is how, if I allow myself to, I can truly leave more baggage at home than I bring on the trip.  I have to say, it's not always easy for me to 'vacate the premises'.

I'm one of those people who will never have a completely clean desk or a completely clear head, no matter how hard I try. I  typically worry whether I got enough done, or more importantly if I got the right things done before leaving for vacation. I have a very hard time turning off the drip, drip, drip of work-think, often coming up with things to think about just before I go to bed, or in the middle of the night when the cats move around, changing their positions and allowing me the luxury of changing mine.

And then there's my writing, and all of those ideas, and research, draft posts waiting for the right time to pull the trigger -- and I worry, what if the right time doesn't come, or worse, what if it does - will the post really ready, and will it hit the target?

And there's family, my own and my extended; relationships to manage, drama to reign in, and so on. And of course this year, we had the government shutdown to wreak havoc on things.

War Memorial Tower
Mt Greylock, MA

Somehow, even in the face of all that, I managed fairly well to grab freedom by the horns and throw myself into it, to fully enjoy the trip to the Berkshires and the week in Vermont that followed, to deal with things on my own terms and not dwell for long on all that other baggage.

I can still feel and hear and smell our walk on Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts where, they say, on a clear day you have 60 - 90 mile views. The day we were there, we could barely see six feet in any direction, but it didn't ruin our fun. I smile at enjoying, in the middle of the fog, a fun conversation with a couple from Eastern Massachusetts, who we ran into again later in the day at another stop, the natural bridge and white marble dam in North Adams. Together, we scoffed at the folks who thought there was "no reason to take pictures on such a horrible day". How silly, and short-sighted, that thinking.

Leaving Massachusetts after a couple of days, we wandered into Vermont, where we spent a week travelling up, down, across and diagonally, going to new places and revisiting some areas we had been two years ago just a few weeks after Hurricane Irene. There's been progress in many areas, places where if you were unfamiliar with the lay of the land, you'd have no idea what happened in 2011. You might not think twice about road work, for example, if you didn't know that after Irene, the road being worked on didn't even exist anymore.  On the other hand, you come across places like downtown Brandon, home still to buildings behind barricades, some that had their first floors almost completely washed away when the floodwaters created new paths and changed lives forever.

In places all along Route 100 and several other scenic drives that crisscross Vermont (are there any that aren't scenic, really?), there is scarring along just about every river, brook or stream. It's easy to spot; there are thousands of dead trees, lying grey in the otherwise vibrant Vermont fall. You can see the path the water takes now, versus the path it took before. There are rocks and boulders everywhere, strewn about like marbles in some bizarre game, the rules of which defy comprehension.

And yet, there's a sense of beauty to the damaged landscape. It's not the classic fall foliage beauty, which annually attracts leaf peepers by the busload to New England. Rather, it's a more dramatic beauty, the kind that makes a person smaller in the face of the sheer enormity and power of what created the revised landscape. And it's hard not to appreciate the resilience of what withstood that power, and the sense of glorious freedom and rebellion with which the remaining trees sort of flip the proverbial bird and shake their fists at Mother Nature, defying her, daring her to come back and try again.

It's that same sense of freedom and resilience that causes people to uproot and move there, like the guy who served us a great cup of butternut-apple bisque late one afternoon. Thirty years ago he left Connecticut to go skiing at Sugarbush and basically never went home. He spent the first few years in Burlington, but left when it started to feel too much like what he left behind. He moved to a smaller place in the Randolph area, and makes a living nurturing locals and visitors alike.

Like everyone - native, transplant or tourist - I hope Mother Nature doesn't unleash a force like Irene on Vermont again. And while I don't have any plans to pull up my Central New York stakes and move there, I do know that we'll go back, daring to experience that vacation freedom once again. 

Knowing how well it worked this time, and armed with the memories of a wonderful break from everyday reality, it's a challenge I'll be happy to accept.

Tuesday's Number: $1,234,892

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were 35 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $1,172,185.

This week, there were four satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider, totaling $36,685.

This week, there was one health care related bankruptcy totaling $26,022.  

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Tuesday's Number: $758,481

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were 30 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $758,481.

This week, there were no satisfied judgments or bankruptcies to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider.  

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

The Poetry of Sarah Palin

Sarah from Wasilla has published more poetry; most of this collection is from her Facebook page and covers what everyone but Fox News is calling a government shutdown, healthcare.gov and her husband's hunting prowess.

Cure for Belly Fat.
Republicans in Congress
are attempting to fund... essential functions
but Democrats are blocking them because
they want to make any slim down
look as awful as possible
in order to deflect
from what this
whole slim
down thing
is all about

An Apple a Day
The White House is now
comparing Obamacare's
numerous "glitches"
to Apple software
updates.

Cool. As. A. What.
Yeah.
Todd
bagged a moose.
Dinner.

Tuesday's Number: $842,316

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were 35 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $710,040.

This week, there was one satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider, totaling $6,516.  

And, there were two health-care related bankruptcies, totaling $126,120.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

The American People Have Spoken

While I was sitting here late last week doing the math and scratching my head on the damage from all of the health care related judgments and bankruptcies in Central New York so far this year (here are the ugly numbers), our elected representatives in Washington were doing what they do best: wasting time, wasting money, and wasting their breath with outright lies and truth-stretching, all played out in front of a national media that's afraid to tell the public what's really going on.

Yes, they're messing around with shutting down the government, and in another couple of weeks potentially jeopardizing the good faith and credit of the country, by passing spending bills that would fund the government - except for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or more commonly, the ACA).  The first bill sent by the House to the Senate led to Canadian-American Ted Cruz (R-Texas) babbling on the floor of the Senate for 21 hours or so, only to be shut down procedurally by Harry Reid, who I think may be the least exciting thing ever to have come from the state of Nevada. After the 100 - 0 vote to move on (yes, Cruz voted to move on, just like everyone else did), the Senate proceeded to strip off the ACA defunding amendment and send what they call a clean bill back to the House, with a 54 -44 vote.

Saturday night, the House Republicans gathered in a booth in the corner in the dark in the back to chat, then came out and had some more votes, and passed another version of a funding bill that will be rejected by the Senate just like the last one was.

This version includes a delay in the ACA until 2015 (by a 232-192 vote), a repeal of the medical device tax that's part of the ridiculously complex ACA funding plan (248-174), and would allow businesses to choose whether to include contraceptive coverage in their no-cost-to-the-member preventative services.  This hugely controversial provision of the women's preventative services benefit package already comes with a religious exemption, but it's more complicated than just saying "I disagree on religious grounds" and so many (on both sides) see it as cumbersome.

The House will also continue funding for military-related programs, via another amendment to their bill, which is a nice tip of the hat to our soldiers who may otherwise receive an IOU from Congress -- while Congress would of course get a paycheck.  This one passed by a vote of 423 -0. I'm not sure exactly why this was not important enough to make the cut for the first bill?

Throughout all of their 40 some-odd votes to repeal the ACA and their defunding efforts, the Republicans insist that "The American People Have Spoken" (which whether written or spoken must include the emphasis of capital letters) - and don't want Obamacare.

Well, to an extent, the Republicans are correct: The American People Have Spoken on this subject several times already. The Affordable Care Act was debated and passed by both Houses of Congress, and signed by the President. It was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. And, Barack Obama was re-elected president last November. Weren't The American People Speaking then?

Not surprisingly, when the health care reform act is called Obamacare, which is how the Rs derisively refer to it, people have a more negative response to it than when it's referred to as the Affordable Care Act. Why? Because, not for nothing, The American People are remarkably gullible when it comes to sound bites and advertising.  Bacon ice cream, anyone? Pharmaceutical advertising?  How about that full page Cialis ad in the paper?  Because after all, nothing says "Good Morning!" like an erectile dysfunction conversation over a waffle and a cuppa.

The Republicans also fail to mention when they talk about The American People Having Spoken is that when surveys show that The American People don't like Obamacare, there's a pretty good percentage who don't like it because it doesn't go far enough. Yep -- depending on the survey, as many as a quarter of the people who don't like it don't like it because it's not good enough.

Finally, and more importantly, surveys of The American People Speaking also show that folks simply don't understand what the ACA does or includes.  For example, this recent poll by NBC news found that:

• 34% admit they don't understand it very well
• 35% understand it only somewhat
• 30% understand it pretty well or very well

Folks, that is what the Republicans are counting on - that they can cloud the discussion with nonsense (death panels, for god's sake, people still think the ACA includes death panels!), cram some nonsense advertising down people's throats, and then throw some cutesy sound bites out there for the media to soft-pedal. It's beyond ridiculous.

What they will not mention, however, are survey results like this: in the same NBC poll, 73% of The Americans Who Have Spoken say they're already satisfied with their health coverage.  Which is cool -- because the ACA implementation began in 2010; so, many folks who are satisfied with the coverage they have now, are satisfied with benefits that might only be available because of the ACA.  Pretty sure the R's are not going to be tossing that statistic around much.

Yes, the American People Have Spoken.

Let's move on. Fund the government, and oh, when you have something meaningful put together to amend the ACA, I'm all ears.

Sidebar: Tuesday's Number

This week's listing of judgments and bankruptcies brings to an end the third quarter's reporting. The totals are up almost $700,000 compared to the second quarter.  By category, here's where things ended up:

• Judgments filed:         $6,196,947
• Judgments satisfied:        983,813
• Bankruptcies:                  518,448
• Total dollars:              $7,699,208

 And here's the damage year to date, for the 946 listings:

• Judgments filed:        $19,195,769
• Judgments satisfied:      2,243,739
• Bankruptcies:                1,130,048 
• Total dollars:             $22,533,556 

As I've noted in the past, there is potential for some of this to be 'self-inflicted', meaning folks who could pay their bills but for some reason choose not to; there's also some duplication -- folks actually do pay off their debts, and so could be listed at one point in the 'judgments filed' column on the ledger and again at a later date in the 'judgments satisfied' column.

But it's still a pretty big, pretty ugly number, isn't it, just for our little Central New York region?

Tuesday's Number: $982,643

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

As I did for much of last year, I will be tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were 29 people listed with new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $956,737.

This week, there were no satisfied judgments to a hospital, doctor, or other medical provider.  

And, there were two health-care related bankruptcies, totaling $25,906.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Wanted: A New Hotel Syracuse (or an old gargoyle)

Three days a week, when I leave the Centro Hub and head off to the Murbro parking lot between  Salina and Clinton to meet My Sweet

Sue Drummond photo, July 2012

Baboo for the ride home, I stare at the empty Hotel Syracuse; the gargoyles on the roof glare back at me, wondering what the heck we're thinking leaving them sitting there ignored all these years. 

Across Onondaga from the original Hotel, the former Hilton Tower also sits empty, partially boarded up, the decorative brickwork in the sidewalk crumbling with neglect.

How is it that so many times over the years, bad owners have been able to keep the city of Syracuse and other developers from moving forward with renovations to the Hotel Syracuse?  And how much longer will the willing be held hostage by the unwilling?

I've lived in Syracuse long enough to remember the Hotel open for business; the Lobby bar and the piano man; the St. Patrick's Day and New Year's Eve parties; Zell's men's store and other retail establishments,restaurants and bars that populated the street level; our beloved Coach Mac and others living upstairs; seeing the local high school kids all duded up for their proms, and so on.

Years ago, I worked at the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, when the offices were on the first floor of the Hotel, on the Onondaga Street side. I remember the many meetings we sponsored in the conference rooms, breakfasts in the restaurant off the lobby, and parties on the bridge between the old Hotel and the Tower.

What I can't remember is how many times someone has bought the Hotel, and threatened to refurbish it, only to end up not paying their taxes, and letting the grand old Hotel slide a little further into disrepair each time, the few remaining businesses falling one at a time, like toy soldiers.

It was bad enough when it was local investors who were unable to complete the deal. It got much worse when, for some reason, Syracuse became the place for Israeli investors to dump their money.  (Anyone remember Eli Hadad?)

Plans along the way included apartment or condos, not only in the tower but also in the adjacent Addis building; reducing the number of rooms in the original hotel, to allow for larger rooms with more modern amenities; and of course there would be revitalized retail establishments and restaurants in that area of downtown.

A slide show in this article from The Post-Standard back in November 2010, one of many they've done over the years on the ups and downs of the Hotel, reflects both its promise and despair; on the one hand, there are pictures of the gorgeous lobby, one of the ballrooms, and folks working in the kitchen, but also damaged rooms, uncompleted renovations, and so on. That conflict of the "is now/could be" has been part of the Hotel's history from the beginning. 

Former P-S columnist Dick Case did a story a few years back with  "Mr. Hotel Syracuse", Spencer Wallace, who used to manage the Hotel.

Candle-maker Eric Will, who was president of the hotel at its 25th anniversary, wrote that the Hotel Syracuse had its beginning "early in the year 1921, when a small group of men, eager for opportunities to serve their city, undertook the building of a new hotel. There followed days of anxiety, months of privation and years of hard work."  The hotel corporation faced bankruptcy when the building was just a skeleton on the skyline of southern downtown. The corporation had to be reorganized with new money poured in to the project.

"Accomplishment was not simple," Eric Will wrote. "Obstructions were encountered, seemingly, at every turn.  Propaganda was rife. There were those who preferred that a new hotel should not succeed."

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Except for the fact that, of late, efforts to overcome the kind of obstacles that the Hotel faced from the beginning have been unsuccessful.  Earlier this year, there was some talk that the City of Syracuse would look into perhaps using eminent domain to get the Hotel away from the absentee owners, who completely ignore the property until someone else expresses interest in it. 

Let's listen again to Eric Will:

"Completely paid for - and modern in its appointments and equipment - Hotel Syracuse stands ready to meet anew the challenge of a greater Syracuse that must come with tomorrow."

The Hotel Syracuse once helped us meet our civic challenge; it now presents a challenge for city and county officials. It's one of our 'gateway' properties; it's in an area -- the Warren Street canyon -- that needs attention. Now's the time for Mayor Miner and her team to help get this property back in local hands, so that willing local developers can proceed with their plans. 

If not, can someone help me get the gargoyles down? They'd look great in my garden.